Sexism in Pop Videos

Laura Mulvey

Mulvey's feminist view of cinema can also be suitable for music videos as the theory that women are views as sexual objects of male desire. She also states how the camera is a heterosexual males point of view as they focus on a women's assets.

Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke

Firstly, this music video sparked controversy and has been banned from 20 university student unions due to it's questionable lyrics. The title itself presents the indication of unconsented sex, the "blurred line" Thicke sings about shows how he is unable to figure out if a woman wants to sleep with him or not, so he pursues her further as the lyrics suggest. The music video shows women parading around the men in little clothing. The models are shown flirting with the artists while they seduce them. There is also an unrated version where the girls are completely topless, which heightens the sexual objectification of them and submits to the the male gaze.

 

Hard Out Here - Lily Allen

The message that Allen was trying to present was that women in society and music videos are constantly getting pressured to have a certain appearance to be accepted in society. She also calls out the over use of women twerking in the camera to satisfy men, and the sexual suggestive images of every thing she must do in her video to heighten her sexuality in order to please men. However, the irony is that she features black women twerking and being sexually explicit. Hence, the reason why she may be seen as a hypocrite as she is doing what she's calling others out for doing.



Wrecking Ball - Miley Cyrus

Previously known as the sweet teenage american sweetheart due to her portrayl of a popular kids show on Disney channel, Hannah Montana. As an attempt to get rid of this well known image, Cyrus exploits herself in her music video "Wrecking Ball". She is shown in a vest and underwear showing most of her skin while using a hammer, also a phallic object, to break walls. Then she is naked on a wrecking ball. These sexualized images of Cyrus can be seen as a way for her to transform into someone else and get an older audience. This can also be seen as a way to gain attention by causing controversy with her sexual objectification.



Adult Swim - DJ Spinking

A current theme in most music videos, especially rap videos, is that we see the sexual objectification of women. However, a reoccurring factor in these videos is to exploit black women above all races. This depiction of the black race can be shown in a negative portrayal. The hyper sexual image of black women presents a more erotic figure to others; which leaves black women to be nothing more than a sexual fantasy for those to desire and lust over. This leads to the belittling of women of the black race, as others outside the race will see black women as being provocative and promiscuous. In this music video we see that the close ups are of the black women's bodies. They sit on the cars not contributing much to the video only to be seen as eye candy and another prop on set much like the cars being showed off. While the men can be seen fully clothed the women wear next to nothing, in an attempt to sexualize them further.